The Spirit Of Spirituality: The Positive Forces In My Mind

Friday, July 24, 2015

The Positive Forces In My Mind

paçyaitåµ på√∂u-putrå√åm åcårya mahatîµ camüm
vyü∂håµ drupada-putre√a tava çißye√a dhîmatå

Behold, O great teacher, the military formation of the army of the sons of På√∂u arranged by your gifted student, Dh®ß†adyumna, the son of Drupada.

atra çürå maheßvåså bhîmårjuna-samå yudhi
yuyudhåno virå†aç ca drupadaçca mahåratha˙

Within those ranks are great archers who are equal to Bhîma and Arjuna in war such as Såtyaki, Virå†a and the powerful charioteer Drupada.

dh®ß†aketuç cekitåna˙ kåçiråjaç ca vîryavån
purujit kuntibhojaç ca çaibyaç ca narapu∫gava˙

Great heroes such as Dh®ß†aketu, Cekitåna, the heroic king of Kåçi, Purujit, Kuntibhoja and Çaibya are also present.

yudhåmanyuç ca vikrånta uttamaujåç ca vîryavån
saubhadro draupadeyåç ca sarva eva mahårathå˙

The chivalrous Yudhåmanyu, the courageous Uttamaujå, Abhimanyu the son of Subhadrå, and the sons of Draupadî are indeed all mighty chariot warriors.

Summary

As we have seen, the great Mahabharatha war is about to begin and the two armies are ready for battle. The blind king Dritarashtra asks his charioteer, Sanjaya to tell him what is happening on the battlefield. Sanjaya gives the blind king a running commentary of the war.

In the above set of verses, Duryodhana is telling his master and preceptor Drona about the strength of the opposing army. This is enough from a contextual perspective. However, our interest is in the symbolism of the war and its applicability for ourselves.

We have seen in an earlier verse that Duryodhana represents Desire which is the root cause of all negative tendencies in our mind. We have also seen the five strong positive forces in our mind. When Desire feels threatened by the positive forces, it relies on Habits to support it. Here, let us see the type of positive forces in our mind, in addition to the five primary forces we covered in our earlier discussion. I will give an illustrative explanation of some of the positive forces here.

The list of positive forces within our minds include the following:

Intuitive Awakening
Self-Control
Life Force Control or breath control
Divine Devotion
Divine Calmness
Dispassion
Power of Mental resistance
Spiritual Memory
Right postures
Confidence
Modesty
Respect
Empathy
Faith
Compassion
Kindness
Love
Honesty
Self Resilience
Fearlessness
Focus
Creativity
Forgiveness
Fortitude
Courage

One of the greatest force within us which will take us on the right path is Spiritual Intuition or intuitive awakening . Intuition is the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. Innately, most of us know that hurting someone is bad. We do not need any great analysis to decide that I should not hurt others, without a valid reason. Similar is the case with spiritual intuition. Anyone on the spiritual path will very quickly understand the nature of this mesmerizing world of objects and its impact on our mental health.

It almost happens suddenly without any warning. We have heard of cases where the most hardened criminals suddenly change. In our own epics, we know of Valmiki who was a robber, but changed into a learned person who ultimately composed the great Ramayana. In any battle within our mind, the first step is to know that there are issues and there are negative forces. The spiritual intuition represented by Dristadyumna gives us that great ability which needs to be harnessed to further grow the positive forces.

Faith is variously defined as belief, confidence or trust in a person, object, religion, idea or view. It may also be used to refer to a particular system of religious beliefs. Faith is integral to human existence. Every act that we do is normally an act of faith. We get into a public transport to go to office. How are we sure that the driver is not a maniac who will crash the bus? We get into a plane. How do we know that the pilot is sane? It is all a matter of faith based on our own experience, experience gained from others etc. The same faith can be harnessed to understand the validity of spiritual teaching regarding our reality and be able to understand the positive forces we can harness and negative forces to control.

Dispassion is the ability not to be attracted by the glamor of the worldly objects. Most of us have that quality in us, which can be harnessed. We are dispassionate about the toys we played with as we grow older. We are dispassionate about our first cycle when we take up a job and own a car. As we reach higher, we become dispassionate about lower things. It is possible for us to elevate our thinking towards a more profound desire for understanding our true nature and this will gradually make us dispassionate about worldly objects.

In summary, we have seen that there are several positive forces in our mind which can help defeat the strength of the negative forces led by desires and supported by habit. It is for each of us to recognize the evil forces first and their impact and then leverage the positive forces to battle the negative forces.

3 of my books

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.

1. My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality